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Analysis of Bharati Mukherjee’s The Management of Grief

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 29, 2021

The Management of Grief  is collected in The Middleman and Other Stories (1988), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. The idea of “middlemen” is central to these stories of immigrant experience; Bharati Mukherjee presents characters in fl ux as they cope with their positions: They are between cultures, between lifestyles, between the old and the new, between the persons they used to be and the persons they are becoming in their new lives. “The Management of Grief” is a fictional depiction of the June 25, 1985, terrorist bombing of an Air India Boeing 747 en route from Canada to Bombay via London’s Heathrow Airport. The crash killed all 329 passengers, most of whom were Canadian Indians. Mukherjee and her husband, Clark Blaise, had researched and written a book on the tragedy ( The Sorrow and the Terror [1987]). In an interview with the scholar Beverley Beyers-Pevitts, Bharati Mukherjee reminisces about the composition of this story: “ ‘The Management of Grief,’ the one which is most anthologized, I did in two sittings. Almost all of it was written in one sitting because I was so ready to tell that story” (190).

In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the tale opens in Toronto in the kitchen of Shaila Bhave, a Hindu Canadian who has lost her husband, Vikram, and two sons, Vinod and Mithun, in the crash. Through Shaila, the central character, Mukherjee illuminates not only the community’s immediate reactions to the horrific event but also the Indian values and cultural differences that the well-meaning Canadian social worker Judith Templeton struggles vainly to comprehend. Valium mutes Shaila’s own grief as she commiserates with her neighbor Kusum, whose husband, Satish, and a talented daughter were crash victims. Kusum is confronted by her Westernized daughter Pam, who had refused to travel to India, preferring to stay home and work at McDonald’s; Pam now accuses her mother of favoring her dead sister. As well-intentioned neighbors make tea and answer phone calls, Judith Templeton asks Shaila to help her communicate with the hundreds of Indian-born Canadians affected by the tragedy, some of whom speak no English: “There are some widows who’ve never handled money or gone on a bus, and there are old parents who still haven’t eaten or gone outside their bedrooms” (183). Judith appeals to Shaila because “All the people said, Mrs. Bhave is the strongest person of all” (183).

Bharati Mukherjee/The New York Times

Shaila agrees to try to help on her return from Ireland, site of the plane crash. While there she describes the difficulties of Kusum, who eventually finds acceptance of her loss through her swami, and of Dr. Ranganathan, a Montreal electrical engineer whose entire family perished. Shaila is in denial and is actually relieved when she cannot identify as hers any of the young boys’ bodies whose photos are presented to her. From Ireland, Shaila and Kusum fl y to Bombay, where Shaila finally screams in frustration at a customs official and then notes, “One [sic] upon a time we were well brought up women; we were dutiful wives who kept our heads veiled, our voices shy and sweet” (189). While with her grandmother and parents, Shaila describes their differences—the grandmother observes Hindu traditions while her parents rebelled against them— and sees herself as “trapped between two modes of knowledge. At thirty-six, I am too old to start over and too young to give up. Like my husband’s spirit, I flutter between two worlds” (189). She reenters her old life for a while, playing bridge in gymkhana clubs, riding ponies on trails, attending tea dances, and observing that the widowers are already being introduced to “new bride candidates” (190). She considers herself fortunate to be an “unlucky widow,” who, according to custom, is ineligible for remarriage. Instead, in a Hindu temple, her husband appears to her and tells her to “ finish what we started together ” (190).

And so, unlike Kusum, who moves to an ashram in Hardwar, Shaila returns to Toronto, sells her house at a profi t, and moves to an apartment. Once again, Judith seeks her help, this time with an old Sikh couple who refuse to accept their sons’ deaths and therefore refuse all government aid, despite being plunged into darkness when the electric company cuts off their power. Shaila cannot explain to Judith, who as a social worker is immersed in the four “stages” of grief, that as a Hindu she cannot communicate with this Sikh couple, particularly because Sikhs were probably responsible for the bombing of the Air India fl ight. Still, she understands their hope that their sons will reappear and has difficulty sympathizing with Judith’s government forms and legalities. Shaila leaves Judith, hears her family’s voices exhorting her to be brave and to continue her life, and, on a hopeful note, begins walking toward whatever her new life will present.

Analysis of Bharati Mukherjee’s Stories

BIBLIOGRAPHY Beyers-Pevitts, Beverley. “An Interview with Bharati Mukherjee.” In Speaking of the Short Story: Interviews with Contemporary Writers. Oxford: University Press of Mississippi, 1997. Carb, Alison B. “An Interview with Bharati Mukherjee.” Massachusetts Review 29 (1988–1999): 645–654. Connell, Michael, Jessie Grearson, and Tom Grimes. “An Interview with Bharati Mukherjee.” Iowa Review 20, no. 3 (Fall 1990): 7–32. Hancock, Geoff. “An Interview with Bharati Mukherjee.” Canadian Fiction Magazine 59 (1987): 30–44. Mukherjee, Bharati. “The Management of Grief.” In The Middleman and Other Stories. New York: Grove Press, 1988. Pandya, Sudha. “Bharati Mukherjee’s Darkness: Exploring Hyphenated Identity.” Quill 2, no. 2 (December 1990): 68–73.

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“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee Essay (Review)

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Short Story Analysis: Critical Review

“the management of grief”: summary, “the management of grief”: analysis conclusion, works cited.

To begin with, let us state that the story under consideration is the short story under the title “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee. She is and outstanding American writer who was awarded a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1988 for her book “The Middleman and Other Stories.” The stories are known for their engaging plots, well-thought structures and author’s writing style. We should admit that the story under consideration is a remarkable piece of writing that deserves our attention.

It is the only story about immigrants in Canada in her collection of books. In “The Management of Grief,” Mukherjee analyzes the catastrophe that is based on the 1985 terrorist bombing of an Air India jet occupied mainly by Indian immigrants that live in Canada. “The Management of Grief” analysis essay shall define the main lesson from the story by Bharati Mukherjee.

The story uses a first-person narrative, and it makes it moving and realistic. It is a mixture of narration and dialogue. The text abounds in specific terms, naming traditional Indian clothes and dishes. This creates a realistic atmosphere and makes the understanding of the theme easier for the reader. We feel as if we were members of their community of immigrants ourselves. So, the setting is the Indian community in Toronto struck by a heavy loss.

The “The Management of Grief” theme may be observed in the title; that is why we can say that it is suggestive. “The Management of Grief” tells us there exists such grief that every person has to face sooner or later. It is the death of our near and dear people, people who represent all lovely qualities of life for us, people who are the sense of our lives.

And our task is to accept and manage this grief properly, but for the “The Management of Grief” characters, this is even more complicated because they live in a foreign country with different traditions and mentality.

The message of the story can be formulated like this: every person is free to decide how to act in his life. The most important thing is peace in our soul that will come sooner or later, even if we have experienced severe grief. We have to look for the answers in our soul, not in the traditions and customs of our country.

As we have already mentioned, the story is told in the first person. The storyteller is Shaila Bhave, a Hindu Canadian who knows that both her husband, Vikram, and her two sons were on the cursed plane. She is the narrator and the protagonist at the same time, so the action unfolds around her.

Shaila makes us feel her grief. It is natural that tears may well up in our eyes while reading. Speaking about other characters of the story, we should mention Kusum, who is opposed to Shaila. Kusum follows all Indian traditions and observes the morning procedure while Shaila chooses to struggle against oppressive traditions, and she rejects them because she is a woman of the new world. Josna Rege says that “Each of the female protagonists of Mukherjee’s … recent novels is a woman who continually “remakes herself” (Rege 399).

And Shaila is a real exception to the rule. She is a unique woman who is not like other Indian women. We would say that she is instead an American or European woman: strong, struggling, intelligent, with broad scope and rich inner world.

The first two pages give us the idea of Indian values. It becomes clear from the very outset, from the opening sentence: “A woman I don’t know is boiling tea the Indian way in my kitchen” (Selvadurai 91).

From the short story analysis, it is evident that the storyteller depicts with much detail the grief and sorrow of those who have experienced this tragedy using such word combinations as “monstrously pregnant” (Selvadurai 91) and “deadening quiet” (Selvadurai 92). The atmosphere becomes more and more tense, and we can see that among all those people who have come to help, Shaila wants to scream.

In this part of the story, where we also get acquainted with Pam, Kusum’s daughter, who stayed alive, because her younger sister had flown instead of her. Here we see misunderstanding between the mother and the daughter as Pam is a westernized teenager, and that is the reason for their detachment. She is closer to Shaila than to her mother.

In the development of action that covers the major part of the text, we can see Shaila’s meeting with a representative of the provincial government, Judith Templeton. Shaila goes to the coast of Ireland to look once again at that very place, where the crash of the Air India jet took place.

She is accompanied by Kusum and several more mourners, who grieve too much, but still, have to identify the bodies. Here the atmosphere is very tragic. The mother cannot accept the reality, and she still thinks that she did not lose her family, because the boy on the photo does not look like her son and, moreover, he is an excellent swimmer so that he can be alive. It is tough to be the witness of the tragedy of a woman who has lost her children.

Then we come to know that Shaila decided to return to India, and there she understood that she had to go back to Canada. This is the climax of the story. We see that the woman has chosen the right way, though she is still not sure and wants to ask her family for advice.

To conclude, let us say that Bharati Mukherjee’s “The Management of Grief” is a tragic and melancholic story, but after all, it creates the impression of an open door, that is the optimistic note of the story. A person who manages the grief will never be alone.

Rege, Josna. “Bharati Mukherjee (1940– ).” The Columbia Companion to the Twentieth-Century American Short Story. Ed. Blanche H. Gelfant and Lawrence Graver. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Selvadurai, Shyam. Story-Wallah: short fiction from South Asian writers. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005.

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IvyPanda. (2018, June 25). “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-short-story-the-management-of-grief-by-bharati-mukherjee/

"“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee." IvyPanda , 25 June 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-short-story-the-management-of-grief-by-bharati-mukherjee/.

IvyPanda . (2018) '“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee'. 25 June.

IvyPanda . 2018. "“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee." June 25, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-short-story-the-management-of-grief-by-bharati-mukherjee/.

1. IvyPanda . "“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee." June 25, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-short-story-the-management-of-grief-by-bharati-mukherjee/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee." June 25, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/analysis-of-short-story-the-management-of-grief-by-bharati-mukherjee/.

The Management of Grief

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Summary and Study Guide

Summary: "the management of grief".

“The Management of Grief” is a short story by Bharati Mukherjee. It was published in 1988 as a part of her collection entitled The Middleman and Other Stories . It also appeared in The Best American Short Stories of 1989 and in The Best American Short Stories of the Eighties .

“The Management of Grief” is narrated from the perspective of Shaila Bhave , a middle-aged Indian widow and an immigrant to Canada. She has recently lost her husband Vikram and her two sons Vinod and Mithun in a plane crash, thought to be the result of a Sikh terrorist attack. The story opens in Bhave’s house in Toronto, now filled with her neighbors and fellow mourners. They have just heard about the plane crash; Bhave has been given Valium to manage her shock, and she feels numb but not calm. She tolerates her well-meaning neighbors and commiserates with her friend and neighbor Kusum , who has lost most of her family in the crash. Only her wayward daughter Pam is left, and Kusum is unable to hide her disappointment in having lost her better-behaved daughter.

Bhave is approached by Judith Templeton , a young Canadian government official, to act as a liaison and translator for her group of mourners. Templeton wants to aid the group in getting their affairs in order and moving on with their lives. She mistakes Bhave’s composed demeanor, brought on by shock and Valium, for true composure, and tells Bhave that she has heard that she is a pillar of the community. Bhave reluctantly agrees to help Templeton, while reflecting that among her own community, her calm affect is not a mark of maturity, but of strangeness. The title of the story comes from Templeton’s conception of “grief management”—her belief that grief proceeds in orderly stages, and that it is an emotion to be controlled rather than given in to.

Bhave and her group of mourners then fly to Ireland, where they must identify the remains of their families, as the plane crashed near the Irish coast. The remains of Bhave’s own family have not yet been found. She visits the coast with Kusum and with Dr. Ranganathan , another mourner, who has also lost his entire family in the crash. Despite his loss, Dr. Ranganathan maintains an optimistic, pragmatic attitude. He suggests to Bhave that there is a possibility that some crash survivors may have been able to swim to safety, briefly filling Bhave with hope, as her sons were strong swimmers. Dr. Ranganathan later accompanies Bhave to an interview with a police officer, who believes that he may have identified her older son, Vinod. She does not recognize Vinod from the photograph he shows her, though there is a strong likelihood that his features have been so distorted by drowning that she does not want to recognize him.   

The mourners then fly from Ireland to India, where they visit the families whom they have left behind, in their migration to Canada, and take up some of their old forgotten rituals: “We play contract bridge in dusty gymkhana clubs. We ride stubby ponies up crumbly mountain trails” (190). Bhave’s wealthy and elderly parents are progressive and rational, and do not believe in spirits or in mystical rituals. While at a temple with her mother, she is “visited” by her husband, a visitation that she hides from her mother. However, this visitation is a sign to her that she must return to Canada and take up her old life. The other mourners in Bhave’s group have meanwhile all coped with their grief in different ways. Kusum decides to remain in India and to become an ashram devotee. Dr. Ranganathan finds a job in Texas, where he plans to tell no one about the crash, although he still cannot bring himself to sell his old family home.

Once in Canada, Bhave meets again with Judith Templeton. Asked by Templeton to meet with a grieving, elderly Sikh couple, Bhave fails to convince them that they need assistance from the government. She is also disheartened to realize that she is now suspicious of them because they are Sikhs: “I stiffen now at the sights of beards and turbans” (193). The encounter causes Bhave to reject both Templeton and the role that Templeton has assigned her.

The story ends on an equivocal note, with Bhave having begun a new life as a widow and moved into a new apartment in the city’s downtown. While she has in some ways followed Templeton’s advice regarding “grief management,” she remains in communion with her family. In the story’s final scene, she has what she describes as a last visitation from her family, in a park in downtown Toronto. She then sets her shopping package down on a park bench and begins to walk off in a random direction.  

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“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee: Analysi

“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee first appeared in The New Yorker in 1988, later finding a home in her short story collection, “The Middleman and Other Stories.”

Introduction: “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

Table of Contents

“The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee first appeared in The New Yorker in 1988, later finding a home in her short story collection, “The Middleman and Other Stories.” The story, lauded by critics and readers alike, explores themes of grief, loss, and the immigrant experience. Set against the backdrop of the Air India Flight 182 tragedy, it follows Shaila Bhave, a protagonist grappling with the immense loss of her husband and children. Through Shaila’s journey, Mukherjee poignantly portrays the struggles immigrants face in adapting to new cultures and reconciling their identities in the face of immense personal tragedy. The story’s enduring power lies in its unflinching portrayal of grief and its insightful exploration of the human condition.

Main Events in “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

• Tragic Revelation: Shaila learns of the Air India Flight 182 bombing that took the lives of her husband and children. She travels to Toronto for identification and to begin the process of mourning.
• Community of Sorrow: Shaila finds connection and support among survivors and victims’ families, bonding with Gita and Mrs. Devi who share her pain.
• Media Intrusion: Shaila is subjected to intrusive visits from acquaintances and journalists seeking to sensationalize her grief.
• Disillusionment with Media: Shaila grows disillusioned with the media’s portrayal of her, feeling misrepresented and exploited.
• Support Group: Shaila finds solace and understanding in a survivors’ support group, where shared experiences of loss create a space for healing.
• Cultural Adaptation: Shaila grapples with the challenges of assimilation in Canadian society while striving to preserve her Indian heritage.
• Memorial Planning: Shaila plays an active role in organizing a memorial for bombing victims, finding purpose and community through creativity and organization.
• Romantic Involvement: Shaila forms a complicated romantic connection with Gita’s brother, Vikram, navigating the complexities of love intertwined with grief.
• Cultural Reckoning: Shaila returns to India to scatter her family’s ashes, confronting cultural differences and conflicting emotions upon her homecoming.
• Resilience and Closure: The story concludes with Shaila’s ongoing process of grief management. She finds purpose and demonstrates the resilience of the human spirit after immense tragedy.

Literary Devices in “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

• Allusion : A reference to a well-known person, place, event, or work of literature. Example: The protagonist’s husband is referred to as a “modern-day Orpheus” for his love of music and ability to charm others.
• Imagery : The use of vivid language to create sensory experiences for the reader. Example: The protagonist describes the “uncanny calm” she feels upon entering her home after the bombing.
• Irony : A contrast between what is expected and what actually happens. Example: The protagonist, a grief counselor, struggles to manage her own grief.
• Metaphor : A comparison between two unlike things without using “like” or “as”. Example: The protagonist describes her grief as an “undertow” pulling her under.
• Personification : Giving human qualities to non-human things. Example: The protagonist describes the ashes of her family members as “dust devils” swirling around her feet.
• Foreshadowing : Hints or clues about what is to come later in the story. Example: The protagonist’s initial reluctance to join a support group foreshadows her eventual reliance on it for connection.
• Flashback : A scene or event from the past that is presented in the story. Example: The protagonist remembers a conversation with her husband about their future plans.
• Simile : A comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as”. Example: The protagonist describes her grief as “a weight, like a backpack full of rocks.”
• Symbolism : The use of an object, person, or situation to represent a larger idea or concept. Example: The scattering of ashes in the Ganges River symbolizes spiritual release and completion of a journey.
• Motif : A recurring theme or image throughout a literary work. Example: Water imagery recurs throughout the story, symbolizing grief and emotional turmoil.

Characterization in “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

Major Themes in “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

• Grief and Loss: The story’s core focus is the profound grief and loss felt by Shaila Bhave after the terrorist attack claims her husband and sons. Mukherjee delves into the despair and overwhelming emptiness associated with immense tragedy, “There is nothing I can do, the doctor tells me, no drug to take to bring them back” (Mukherjee). Shaila’s grief is further complicated by her feelings of guilt and responsibility, believing she should have insisted they fly earlier.
• Identity and Culture: Mukherjee explores the complexities of identity and culture. As an Indian immigrant in Canada, Shaila finds herself torn between her traditional Indian upbringing and the Western culture she inhabits. This tension is highlighted in scenes like her discomfort with prescribed medication and her preference for traditional mourning rituals.
• Community and Belonging: The story highlights the importance of community and belonging. Shaila finds comfort and connection with other victims’ families, particularly Gita and Mrs. Devi who share her unique experience of pain and loss. Additionally, she bonds with the Sikh community, who are unfairly targeted following the terrorist attack. These connections provide Shaila with support and a sense of belonging during her darkest hours.
• Acceptance and Healing: The story emphasizes the themes of acceptance and healing. Shaila ultimately begins the process of accepting her loss and moving towards healing. Her decision to become a grief counselor for other victims’ families gives her life renewed purpose and meaning, “Slowly, I am beginning to be of use” (Mukherjee). Mukherjee emphasizes that healing is a gradual and challenging journey, but one that is ultimately attainable.

Writing Style in “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

• Vivid Imagery: Mukherjee creates powerful sensory experiences. Shaila describes the “stench of jet fuel and melted metal” after the crash, or the “uncanny calm” she feels upon entering her empty home. These details ground the emotional experience in tangible reality.
• Metaphor and Simile : Mukherjee uses figurative language to express Shaila’s grief. Her emotions are an “undertow” threatening to consume her, or the weight of her loss is “like a backpack of rocks.” These comparisons create a visceral understanding of her suffering.
• Symbolism : Objects and actions hold deeper meaning. The scattering of ashes in the Ganges represents a spiritual release, while Shaila’s eventual enrollment in an art class hints at a creative and hopeful future.
• Internal Monologue: The story largely unfolds through Shaila’s thoughts and narration. This allows deep insight into her perspective, her struggles with cultural dissonance, and the gradual process of managing her grief.
• Empathy and Nuance Mukherjee demonstrates deep empathy for her characters, especially Shaila. She doesn’t shy away from difficult emotions like guilt or disillusionment, painting a complex portrait of healing.

Literary Theories and Interpretation of “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

Questions and Thesis Statements about “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

Short Question-Answers about “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

Q: What is the significance of the title, “The Management of Grief,” in Bharati Mukherjee’s story?

A: The title highlights the ongoing and complex nature of grief. Rather than offering a straightforward path to healing, the term “management” suggests Shaila must learn to live with her loss and find ways to cope over time. This reflects the story’s portrayal of grief as a non-linear journey rather than a finite problem to be solved.

Q: How does the protagonist’s response to the terrorist attack challenge traditional Western ideas of grief and mourning?

A: Shaila’s response presents a departure from typical Western portrayals of grief, which often focus on individual processes and subdued emotional expression. Instead, Mukherjee emphasizes communal practices like collective cremation and open displays of mourning. The support Shaila finds in connecting with other victims’ families further highlights how shared experiences of loss can be a powerful element of healing, something that may be less explored in Western-centric narratives.

Q: How does the story address the theme of cultural identity?

A: The story centers cultural identity through Shaila’s experience as an Indian immigrant in Canada. The internal conflict she experiences as she attempts to balance her traditional upbringing with her Canadian surroundings becomes a recurring theme. This is illustrated in her discomfort with the prescribed medication and her preference for familiar mourning rituals.

Q: How does the protagonist’s experience of grief reflect the broader theme of trauma in the story?

A: Shaila’s individual experience of grief is intrinsically linked to the collective trauma of the terrorist attack. Her flashbacks, overwhelming guilt, and difficulty processing the event are all hallmark symptoms of trauma, indicating that both she and the wider community are working through deep psychological wounds. This connection highlights how trauma can fundamentally shape the nature of grief.

Suggested Readings: “The Management of Grief” by Bharati Mukherjee

Scholarly articles.

• Explores how Mukherjee uses the short story format to explore themes of belonging and displacement, with a focus on Shaila’s identity crisis.
• Looks at how the story challenges conventional immigrant narratives and the ways trauma impacts Shaila’s experience of multiple cultures.
• You can search on academic databases like JSTOR, Project MUSE, or your library’s research resources for terms like “Management of Grief” + “Mukherjee” to see if newer articles exist.
• Likely contains a chapter or section analyzing “The Management of Grief” within Mukherjee’s larger body of work.

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" Grief, Loss, and Bereavement: An Overview "

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Management of Grief, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts in Serious Illness

Affiliations.

• 1 Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, 4150 Clement Street, Box 181G, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 2 San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, 4150 Clement Street (NH 181), San Francisco, CA 94121, USA.
• PMID: 32312412
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mcna.2020.01.003

The varied physical, social, and psychological stressors that accompany advanced disease can be burdensome and cause intense emotional suffering, hindering the ability of patients and families to cope in day-to-day life and negatively affecting quality of life. This article addresses key concepts for the assessment and management of commonly encountered types of psychological distress in serious illness including grief, prolonged grief, major depressive disorder, death contemplation, and suicidal ideation.

Keywords: Antidepressants; Death contemplation; Depression; Grief; Prolonged grief; Psychotherapy; Serious illness; Suicidal ideation.

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A scoping review on staff attitudes towards the use of coercion in mental healthcare.

1. Introduction

2.1. design, 2.2. eligibility criteria, 2.3. search strategy, 2.4. study selection, 2.5. data extraction, 3.1. search results, 3.2. aims and key findings of studies reviewed, 3.3. challenges in the assessment of staff attitudes towards coercion, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Efkemann, S.A.; Lickiewicz, J.; Doedens, P.; Lantta, T.; Bali, P.; Husum, T.L. A Scoping Review on Staff Attitudes towards the Use of Coercion in Mental Healthcare. Healthcare 2024 , 12 , 1552. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12161552

Efkemann SA, Lickiewicz J, Doedens P, Lantta T, Bali P, Husum TL. A Scoping Review on Staff Attitudes towards the Use of Coercion in Mental Healthcare. Healthcare . 2024; 12(16):1552. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12161552

Efkemann, Simone Agnes, Jakub Lickiewicz, Paul Doedens, Tella Lantta, Panagiota Bali, and Tonje Lossius Husum. 2024. "A Scoping Review on Staff Attitudes towards the Use of Coercion in Mental Healthcare" Healthcare 12, no. 16: 1552. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12161552

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The Management of Grief

Bharati mukherjee, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

When Judith initially asks for Shaila ’s assistance, Shaila responds by saying that she won’t be able to help and that “we must all grieve in our own way.” Each person’s “own way” to grieve depends, the story suggests, on both their culture and their own personal, lived experience. For example, the Sikh couple maintains hope that their sons will return. Dr. Ranganathan finds refuge first in a kind of optimistic pragmatism and then by physically distancing himself from emotional tragedy by moving to Texas, where no one will know his story. Kusum moves to an ashram in Hardwar to pursue spiritual peace. Shaila seeks direction and wisdom in visions of her loved ones. By portraying the complexities of how grief is understood across different cultures, and the nuances of how people from the same culture perceive the same issues very differently, the story serves as a testament against the one-size-fits-all mentality advocated by Judith and the Canadian government. Instead, the story maintains the importance of trying to understand people as both influenced by their culture and their personal experiences, as an individual who must be taken on their own terms if someone wants to begin to understand them or enter into meaningful communication with them.

Navigating Cultural Difference ThemeTracker

Navigating Cultural Difference Quotes in The Management of Grief

Dr. Sharma, the treasurer of the Indo-Canada society, pulls me into the hallway. He wants to know if I am worried about money. His wife, who has just come up from the basement with a tray of empty cups and glasses, scolds him. “Don’t bother Mrs. Bhave with mundane details.”

“Nothing I can do will make any difference,” I say. “We must all grieve in our own way.”

“It’s a parent’s duty to hope,” [Dr. Ranganathan] says. “It is foolish to rule out possibilities that have not been tested. I myself have not surrendered hope.”

[My mother] grew up a rationalist. My parents abhor mindless mortification.

The zamindar’s daughter [my grandmother] kept stubborn faith in Vedic rituals; my parents rebelled. I am trapped between two modes of knowledge… like my husband’s spirit, I flutter between worlds.

“In the textbooks on grief management,” [Judith] replies—I am her confidante, I realize, one of the few whose grief has not sprung bizarre obsessions—“there are stages to pass through: rejection, depression, acceptance, reconstruction.” She has compiled a chart and finds that six months after the tragedy, none of us still reject reality, but only a handful are reconstructing. “Depressed Acceptance” is the plateau we’ve reached.

“God provides and God takes away,” he says.

I want to say, But only men destroy and give back nothing. “My boys and my husband are not coming back,” I say. “We have to understand that.”

Now the old woman responds. “But who is to say? Man alone does not decide these things.” To this her husband adds his agreement.